MANITOU SPRINGS, COLORADO -- I was with nextel for close to 17 years and had 5 lines with them. I only had one line that I was still in contract on, but they say not. I called to cancel 3 of my 5 lines due to disability and they said that they would waive 2 of the early term fees if I kept 3 lines open. I told them I only could afford 2 of them but would keep the one I was under contract with (which was only one line, the others I had fulfilled) and the most expensive other one I had. They said that they would have to charge me at least one early term fee so I just told them to cancel them all and shut down my lines immediately.

Not only did not they not shut them down immediately but left them on for 2 more weeks until my billing cycle was up, but they sent me a bill for $1070 which included early termination fees for all 5 lines. If they would have shut them down when I requested and put the remaining part of my months fees paid in advance towards my account.

The one early fee I may have had should have balanced it all out if maybe I would have owed a little. They will not even take a dispute as they say that when 3 of my phone stopped working properly and I had to buy 3 new ones about a year 1/2 ago at full price that it extended my contract for 2 more years. Funny no one told me that at the time.

So hear I sit with a huge bill and I am not going to pay one penny of it. Especially when they could have kept approximately $200 per month if they had done what I asked and could afford in the first place. I guess the harassing calls from collectors will be starting soon thank god for caller id. They will get what they want when below freezes over. I rent am on disability (not a garnishable income) and couldn't give a hoot about my credit. I am not going to be buying a house or car on credit any time for rest of my life and already got new cell service before they could try and ruin my credit.

I am sure the new company as long as I pay on time and in full like I have been doing for 17 years now with nextel that they will be happy to keep my phones on. Beware of this company and sprint as well as they have merged. Well as I said above I did get a resolution out of this, but watch the news today and saw that nextel / spring is preparing to lay off 4000 employees due to the loss of close to 700,000 customers in just the last year!!! See you should be nicer to your employees and adjust your prices to match others instead of thinking you can treat customers like dogs and expect them to stay. Can we say karma.

Resolution Update 01/17/2008:

i contacted an attorney and he gave me the direc number to the corprate headquarters and i reached someone in the executive office and they saw that what i had claimed about my contracts, being that they should not have been extended due to i had paid full price 1 1/2 years ago for replacement phones at full price was true. he also credited the unused portion of service from when i first called in to cancel imeadiatly. it took my final bill from $1070 down to the $254 and change that it should have been. My only complaint at this time is that it took contacting a lawyer to find out the number that should be available to the entire public. ( by the way it is 703-433-4000 and do not push any buttons, just let operater answer and tell her you have talked to all departments and could not resolve and you want exective office ) the man i talked to said he wished i had been able to have contacted him first as he would have been able to keep me as a customer if he had looked at the account and seen what it seems no others could see? he also asked that if he could get me back the special priced plan i had from years ago would i consider signing back up again. i told him yes and we will see if i get a call or not. i would guess not as i had total unlimited service from anywhere in the US to anywhere in the US for $113.00 per month plus tax. either way i am glad they could admit their mistake even if it took about 15 calls and 3 days 6 to 9 hours each day of calling to get the job done.

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early termination fee

By pchong - 06/16/2005

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- I have been with Nextel for five years. Paid their exorbitant cell phone fees and endured waiting, waiting for my contract to end. You see I had changed my plan at some point so I wouldn't have these $300 cell phone bills but didn't realize that the slightest change in my plan put me under another year of servitude to Nextel. So finally I decide that's it I'm done. I was also leaving the country for a while. So I put my cell phone on hold knowing that when I got back I'd have three months left on my contract. I wanted to avoid the early termination fee even though in retrospect it would have been smarter to pay it and get out of this company.

So I put in my three more months then I call Nextel at the end of May but we get disconnected. So, thinking that I wanted to avoid starting another contract with them I go to another cell phone company at the end of May to sign up. What I didn't realize was that because my contract ended with Nextel June 7th I was still billed the $200 early termination fee because I ended my contract May 31st. Yes, it was my oversight, but I had been a loyal customer to them for years and it was obvious my intention was to fulfill my contract.

I call them up and of course they were rude and unhelpful saying it didn't matter that there was only a week left that I was told this that the most they would do was to take off $100. I still think $100 for a week of cell phone service is a little high. It was the last straw. I hope they are punished by the cell phone gods for their terrible, deceptive business practices.

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Combat early termination fee?

By Lauren - 03/18/2004

CALIFORNIA -- My story mimics exactly many of the reviews that I just read below. I just got off the phone with a Nextel representative who was as useless as the others that I have interacted with. The long and the short of it is that I have been hung up on, transferred for hours, lied to, even told that my record says that I "was angry" and "hung up," when we all know that you get put on hold and never picked back up! I sent 2 letters to the infamous Nextel Corporate Headquarters, did not receive any response or even acknowledgement of their receipt.

I am now being told that they are sending a collection agency after me for the $200 early termination fee (I switched to Spring, who so far, has had great customer service). I refuse to pay this on the moral grounds of how I was treated and how my complaints have been entirely ignored. So, for those of you who have experienced similar situations and have contacted the FCC, how do I go about doing that? And if there is a class action suit against Nextel, can I somehow join that suit with my story?

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Early Termination fiasco

By Debra - 02/09/2004

LANSING, MICHIGAN -- This company is terrible! On 11/3/03 I e-mailed them to find out when my contract expired (was looking to switch carriers). I got an e-mail back from them saying it was 02/04/2003, so I went ahead and terminated. Now I'm getting all sorts of bills from them stating that since my expiration date is 02/04/2004 that I would have to pay the $200 early termination fee. I have tried to call them and explain that I was given the wrong information, but of course the only answers I have gotten are that I have to talk to someone "higher up".

After being transferred every time, I've been either put on hold for up to 1 hr. or just disconnected. So I decided to try e-mail and attach a copy of the e-mail that I had originally received from them. Well, that sure didn't get any results. They just e-mail me back with the general message that I owe $200. I've written to them several times sending a copy of the e-mail, but haven't gotten any response other than bills (last one was a threatening one...). So I have filed a complaint with the FCC (not too optimistic). Today I sent a letter with all of my original letters, copies of all e-mails to/from them AND the copy of the complaint to the FCC. I put a big X over the amount owed. I really think there needs to be a class action lawsuit filed.